International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement

The Teacher Education and Development Study (TEDS-M) is the first crossnational study to examine the mathematics preparation of future teachers for both primary and secondary school levels. The study, conducted under the auspices of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), collected data from representative samples of future teachers and their educators. The study's key research questions focused on the relationships between teacher education policies, institutional practices, and the mathematics and pedagogy knowledge of future teachers at the end of their preservice education. Seventeen countries participated in TEDS-M. Data were gathered from approximately 22,000 future teachers from 750 programs in about 500 teacher education institutions. Teaching staff within these programs were also surveyed. They included close to 5,000 mathematicians, mathematics educators, and general pedagogy educators. This report presents various characteristics of teacher education systems. It shows that, of the TEDS-M participating countries, those where future teachers have greater knowledge of mathematics and mathematics teaching pedagogy are also those that place greatest emphasis on policies directed toward accomplishing the following: enabling the teaching profession to compete for high-ability secondary school graduates; balancing teacher demand and supply; ensuring a rigorous system of assessment/accreditation of teacher education programs; and setting high standards for entry to the profession (i.e., gaining registration licensing) after graduation. These results are consistent with teacher education policy discussions occurring nationally and internationally about the most successful processes for assuring teacher quality. The results also provide information useful for policymakers in their endeavors to improve policy and practice relating to preparing teachers of mathematics. Following an introduction by Lawrence Ingvarson, chapters include: (1) Organization of Teacher Education and Its Contexts across the TEDS-M Countries (John Schwille, Lawrence Ingvarson, Maria Teresa Tatto, Richard Holdgreve-Resendez, Wangjun Kim, and Soo-Yong Byun); (2) The Distinctive National Imprint of Each TEDS-M System (John Schwille, Richard Holdgreve-Resendez, Wangjun Kim, and Patrick Leahy); (3) Historical Perspectives on the Policies and Organization of Teacher Education (John Schwille); (4) The Positions and Careers for Which Teachers Are Being Prepared (John Schwille and Richard Holdgreve-Resendez); (5) The Relevance of Quality Assurance of Teacher Education within the Context of TEDS-M (Lawrence Ingvarson); (6) Recent Research on Quality Assurance in Teacher Education (Lawrence Ingvarson); (7) Recruitment and Selection in Teacher Education (Lawrence Ingvarson); (8) Regulation and Accreditation of Teacher Education Institutions and Programs (Lawrence Ingvarson); (9) Entry to Teaching (Lawrence Ingvarson); and (10) Quality Assurance and Teacher Education: Summary of Findings (Lawrence Ingvarson). Two appendices present: (1) Supplementary Exhibits Relating to Chapter 2; and (2) Listings of Organizations and Individuals Responsible for TEDS-M. (Individual chapters contain references.) [TEDS-M was conducted under the auspices of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). The College of Education at Michigan State University (MSU) and the Australian Council of Educational Research (ACER) were appointed by IEA as the joint international study centers (ISCs) for TEDS-M. To design and carry out the study, the ISCs worked in collaboration with the IEA Data Processing and Research Center (DPC), the IEA Secretariat in Amsterdam, Statistics Canada, and the TEDS-M national research centers in the 17 participating countries. Together, these teams of researchers and institutions conceptualized the study, designed and administered the instruments, collected and analyzed the data, and reported the results.]